Ward Zoning and Planning Committee Meeting: 8/30/06

Alderman Mary Ann Smith opened the meeting and announced that Greg Harris had been selected Tuesday evening to replace Representative Larry McKeon, who has chosen to step down. If you know Greg, please drop him a note of congratulations; well wishes were extended on behalf of Carmen-Winona.

Saddle & Cycle Club will be upgrading their property on Sheridan just south of the Breakers and directly north of Dominicks. They will be adding tennis courts and a secluded “L” shaped surface parking lot with a heavy amount of landscaping. This does not require a vote, as there are no zoning issues, just a long overdue upgrade of the property.

MAS then proceeded to outline the procedures of the evening and to talk to us about how this committee has ‘binding power on her’ as she believes in giving more control to the community through the voice of the block clubs represented by delegates at Zoning & Planning. She began to reiterate all the standards by which the Zoning & Planning committee works; that we discuss only the merits of the development, projects should rise or fall for the right reasons, we defer to the block clubs and associations that are closest to the project for it more directly affects their immediate communities. People will be limited to 5-minute speeches.

The project in question is 5440 N Sheridan (the former Motel property). The developer is the Bluewater group. The attorney representing Bluewater is Graham Grady. As a bit of history, the property is actually 2 parcels of land: the now razed motel and the corner parcel on Catalpa & Sheridan, which is owned by the high-rise across the street at 5445 N Sheridan. The property is zoned B3-5 and has a height limitation of 80 feet. A deal was struck between the condo association at 5445 and Bluewater, whereby in exchange for the development of the property, Bluewater would agree to construct additional parking spaces solely for the use of residents at 5445.

The building will be a modern structure with a lot of glass, set back from Sheridan some 25 feet. There will be 3 town homes on the Catalpa side and 4 individual town homes on the Sheridan Road side. The remainder of the building will be 10 floors of condominiums and parking with green roof space.

The total height of the building will be 171 feet. Because of the additional height it will have to make an application as a Planned Development (PD). There will be 156 units ranging in size from 600 square feet to 4000. Each unit will be 1, 2, or 3 bedrooms; there will be no studios. Pricing will begin in the high $200,000 and range up to $800,000+ for the town homes (Preconstruction is priced at $300 a square foot). There are no CPAN set-asides. There will be a monetary donation to the housing trust, but there is nothing in stone at this time as to how much. Apparently there is talk that this project is grandfathered from the CPAN program as it was white boarded prior to the 48th Ward’s passing of CPAN participation.

This was a very contentious development and as a result, the room was filled to capacity, standing room only plus 20-30 people outside protesting the development in its current form. The main points were: height, density, increased traffic (and traffic in conjunction with the now being erected Catalpa Gardens just to the west). The meeting started promptly at 7 p.m. and debate went on for approximately 1 hour 45 minutes. All sides were allowed to be heard.

There was a petition in opposition to the development signed by 1000 neighbors and presented to MAS and the Ward office.

The largest block club/organization in the area is EBNA and because of some internal turmoil and issues, they chose to abstain. Pro votes were cast by the 5455 building, ASCO and 5415 N Sheridan. No votes were cast by 5455, 5510, The Metropolitan, The Renaissance. These are the groups/organizations directly adjacent to and most directly affected by this development (4 No's, 2 Yes's, 1 Abstain).

As a result of the above voting, Carmen-Winona when called upon cast a vote of NO in support of our neighbors directly adjacent to this development and in fulfillment of the Zoning and Planning process and how it is to be conducted as outlined and reiterated by MAS at the beginning of the meeting.

Voting continued and the project was approved by an overwhelming majority: 30 Yes, 5 No, 6 Abstain.

A note to all. There was another point raised on this development because of the 80 foot height limitation and its plan to reach 171 feet. The point was the downzoning of Sheridan Road, Foster north to Hollywood, to a limit of 6 stories. As many of us have been discussing the downzoning and how it applies to us, it is important to let everyone know the facts as learned last evening. The proposal to downzone Sheridan Road was apparently suggested by MAS and ASCO. It was put forward to a vote by Zoning and Planning and approved. HOWEVER — it was never brought to the City Council for approval and therefore is not on the books. There is no downzoning on Sheridan Road at Foster going north.